latest "honorsy" news,

discussions, and ideas, as

well as features designed

to aid you in your quest

to transfer to an excellent

university or four-year

college. So join us each

month and discover what

is new in the wide world

of Honors

-By, Raphael Doelker-

Hello and welcome to

the first issue of “Hon-

Our Way,” the monthly

newsletter. In the past,

many of us were con-

fused as to which events

were scheduled, which

had passed and what had

happened when those

events took place. The

“Hon-Our Way” team

intends to change that.

We will bring you the

Welcome to Hon-Our Way

Inside this issue:

Columbia is waiting 1-2

Honors Corners 2-3

Upcoming Events 4

HTCC Conference 5

Don’t Cut California’s Future

6

San Diego Mesa Honors Club

Hon-Our Way

Upcoming events:

Transfer Workshop

Angels for Haiti

Walk for Animals

Berkley Conference

APRIL . 01. 2010 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Turn on your

light, and let it

shine bright

Columbia is waiting

Many of us would like

to transfer to prestigious

schools, but have con-

cerns. As commu-

nity college students, we

often worry about fi-

nances and our grades

may suffer if we are

working full-time while

still trying to take a

heavy course load.

Schools like Stanford,

U.C. Berkeley, and Co-

lumbia beckon to us, but

we don‟t quite know how

to make the transition.

Well, good news. Those

dreams are not out of

reach.

On Friday, March

twelfth, Michael Taylor,

formerly a fellow com-

munity college student,

shared his experiences

with Honors students and

guests. Michael trans-

ferred from San Diego

City College to prestig-

ious Columbia Univer-

sity in the Big Apple. He

came to Mesa to give

back, to give us hope

and to encourage us

to pursue our dreams.

Taylor, a former Marine,

said he “barely finished

”High school” before

enrolling in the Corps

when he was seventeen.

After he finished his tour

of service, he enrolled in

City College to pursue his

academic career. Like

many of us, he gravitated

to the Honors Program in

search of excellence.

When the time came to

transfer, he decided to

son reading your essay may

have waded through dozens

or even hundreds of other

essays before setting their

eyes on your gem. Run-on

sentences, tongue twisting

vocabularies, and a disorgan-

ized essay will not endear you

to such people.

Be clear and concise, and

above all, put the personal

Many private universities,

including the University of

San Diego, still offer “late

consideration” applications

for the fall, 2010 semester. In

the case of USD, the deadline

is May 1st. For those of you

writing personal statements

for various colleges, keep the

following tips in mind.

First, remember that the per-

into the personal essay.

Honors Corners

Relax and have a cup of tea!

Take a step back and you will

fined your inspiration.

listen to his adventurous side,

daring to climb high and

reach for the stars. He applied

to and was accepted by

Columbia, an institution that

shaped many of the future

leaders of this country.

Taylor said, “I worked my

butt off, but I now have har-

vested the rewards. My

philosophy has always been:

On the first day of school, I

walk into the class with an

„A,‟ and the syllabus is the

instruction manual how to

maintain that „A.‟ This phi-

losophy has guided me

through the courses and en-

couraged me to do the as-

signed work”

Taylor also mentioned that it

was crucial for his acceptance

to be part of PTK and encour-

aged us to participate in this

wonderful organization.

The cost to pursue an educa-

tion at Columbia is around

$40,000 per year. So even if

we do get the grades, com-

plete the Honors Program, do

all the extracurricular work,

apply and win acceptance, the

question remains. How are we

supposed to pay for

it? The good news is

that there are numerous schol-

arships as well as federal and

private student loans avail-

able. According to Taylor, “If

you really want it, you make

it happen.”

So for all of you overachiev-

ers, dreamers, and ambitious

scholars, reach for the stars,

strive for more and don‟t let

anyone ever discourage you.

-By, Raphael Doelker-

Page 2 HON-OUR WAY

On the first

day

of school, I

walk into

the class with

an ‘A,’ and the

syllabus is

the

instruction m

anual how to

maintain

I once knew someone whose

introductory sentence dis-

cussed the relationship be-

tween phylogeny and ontog-

eny. Not only did this violate

the tongue twister rule, but it

also gave his personal essay a

rather pompous and imper-

sonal tone.

To stand out from the crowd,

be real and touch the reader

emotionally. Impress the

person with how well you

would fit into her college and

how much she would enjoy

getting to know you.

Do this through the use of

personal details. Tell your

reader the ways in which you

are unique. Write about a

dream that motivates you, a

hobby that outfits you with

useful skills, charity work that

illustrates your compassion,

or work experience that at-

tests to your commitment.

Cover the event that focused

your interest on your current

major. Describe an experience

that testifies to your leader-

ship skills. If you overcame

obstacles, by all means, de-

scribe them and the lessons

you learned, or the character

that you developed. Assume

that your reader would like to

help you, and give her good

reasons to follow that inclina-

tion.

While it is an excellent idea to

avoid words that tie the

tongue into knots, put the

thesaurus to better use elimi-

nating repetitive “pet” words.

I am very fond of

“demonstrate,” and tend to

overuse that verb. I tracked its

employment in this piece us-

ing the find feature on Micro-

soft Word and eliminated it in

six instances. In its place, I

substituted verbs like

“testify,” “illustrate,” and

“exhibit.” Notice that none of

these words force the reader

to resort to a dictionary.

In addition, use the thesaurus

to build a dynamic personal

image through the use of ac-

tion verbs. Avoid passive

verbs like is, was, are, were,

or has been. Go through your

essay and circle each one.

Often, active verbs lurk in the

same sentence, just waiting

for you to discover and use

them. If not, Google a syno-

nym. For other tips concern-

ing dynamic writing, search

online for the “Paramedic

Writing Method.”

Most important of all, remem-

ber to stick to the truth. Like a

coat of red paint under a layer

of white wash, secrets have a

way of bleeding through.

Don‟t invest energy hiding

things when you can make

points by explaining them.

Address the reasons behind

issues like gaps, discrepan-

cies, or less than stellar peri-

ods in your academic or per-

sonal record. Impress your

reader with your newfound

maturity and show how you

have learned from your mis-

takes. Distinguish yourself

from the whiners by taking

responsibility.

While on the subject of re-

sponsibility, take the time to

organize your essay. Write an

outline, even if you have al-

ready completed your first

draft. This often reveals areas

that are repetitive and can be

eliminated, or paragraphs that

might be rearranged for clar-

ity.

Along the same lines, make

sure that your spelling, punc-

tuation, and grammar are cor-

rect. Ask a friend who is good

at English to review your es-

say. In addition, make sure to

read it out loud. This will

often reveal sentences that

trip your tongue or violate the

rules of grammar.

In the end, your personal es-

say can be your ticket to the

college of your dreams. It

represents an important op-

portunity to distinguish your-

self from the crowd, to ex-

plain subpar grades, or to set

the record straight if you did

not travel the usual path from

high school straight into col-

lege. Use it wisely and you

will reap the rewards for years

to come.

-By April Decker-

Page 3 VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1

Be clear

and

concise,

and above

all, put the

personal

into the

personal

essay.

Upcoming Events

Berkeley Conference,

May 1st, Cal Berkeley

Two Mesa College honors

students will present their

research at Cal Berkeley.

Learning from HTCC, these

students hope to give strong

oral presentations to other

community college students

in Northern California. A few

other students will attend to

watch and learn from this

experience.

-By Jay Aquino-

Honors Reception,

May 4th, Prada Ball-

room Balboa Park

The Honors reception is for

all of us who have done it,

who have success fully com-

pleted the honors program of

SDCCD and are now trans-

ferring or leaving the school

with there associates. Every-

one is welcome to come.

-By Raphael Doelker-

Walk for Animals, May

1st, Crown Point Shores,

Mission Bay

Celebrating San Diego‟s love

of animals, people from all

over San Diego will walk and

raise funds to ensure that pets

throughout San Diego receive

the care they so deserve. The

walk will be a quarter-mile

walk. This event hopes to

dramatically impact the lives

of thousands of animals in our

community.

“Plan Ahead for Your

Future” Transfer Work-

shop, April 6th, at 4:10 in

room G105

Plan ahead for your future.

The Honors Counselor Naomi

Grisham will discuss future

planning, what you need to

take, general education

courses, and common mis-

takes students make. There

will also be a Q and A ses-

sions.

Angels for Haiti, April

26th through 29th, in the

LRC.

To pro-

vide re-

lief for

the peo-

ple of

Haiti, Phi

Theta

Kappa is

directing

proceeds

of this

annual event towards the re-

building of Haiti. Throughout

the library, Haitian artwork

will be on display. People will

be able to buy this artwork

through a silent auction going

on throughout the week. They

can also buy prints of the art-

work. The main proceedings

will take place on Thursday

April 29th. Dr. Carolle Jean-

Murat will talk about the peo-

ple of Haiti and the silent auc-

tion will conclude.

Page 4 HON-OUR WAY

Transfer

workshop

~*~

Angels for

Haiti

~*~

Walk for

animals

~*~

Berkeley

conference

Upcoming Honors-

club meetings:

Always at 4:10

In Room G105

April 6

April 20

May 4

May 18

Jun 1

HTCC Conference: Ten Years of Excellence and Opportunities

Honors students across south-

ern California prepared for

March 6th, 2010 with at least

a semester‟s worth of work

and dedication. This date

marked the 10th annual Hon-

ors Transfer Council of Cali-

fornia's research conference

held at UC Irvine. Also

known as HTCC, this confer-

ence asks ambitious students

to show the fruits of their edu-

cational careers in posters,

oral presentations, artwork, or

performances. Not only is

HTCC a chance for students

to stand out amongst their

peers, but students also have

the opportunity to be pub-

lished professionally, adding

distinction to their re-

sumes. Scholarships offering

cash prizes and professional

recognition were available to

the many students who sub-

mitted their abstracts and per-

sonal essays. At this HTCC

conference all previous re-

cords of participation were

shattered; with over 300 pres-

entations, three dozen poster

presentations, and over 700

conference attendees. This

year‟s conference, held at

UCI‟s newly inaugurated con-

ference center, was quite a

transformation from the first

conference, where 50 students

presented their research.

The day began with poster

presentations and a friendly

introduction to UCI and the

HTCC program. Three ses-

sions of oral presentations

followed with over 30 San

Diego Community College

District students sharing their

research projects, a record

number of SDCCD represen-

tatives. This year‟s “Issues

Forum” (a debate

on a current topic

of broad interest

in California)

centered on the

role of Proposi-

tion 13 in the

budget crisis.

Four San Diego

area students de-

bated the topic; each one hav-

ing spoken out at his or her

own campus‟ March 4th rally

against budget cuts to higher

education, armed with the

research each had done in

preparation for the confer-

ence. Scholarship awards

marked the end of the confer-

ence during which Isaac

Alcantar and Kate Humphrey

took away awards for Exem-

plary Achievement. SDCCD

honors students represented

their schools with academic

integrity and a wide variety

of worthwhile pro-

jects. The highly anticipated

day came and went, but re-

vealed a courageous and stu-

dious group of SDCCD hon-

ors students.

-By Kate Humphrey-

Page 5

HON-OUR WAY

Remember, the

Honors

program

offers free

symphony

tickets.

At Mesa, Professor Jennifer

Cost organized a rally in the

quad. Professor Cost, who

teaches an honors Creative

Writing course along with

Professor Smith, encouraged

students to articulate them-

selves and their passion about

their education. Members of

all the organizations on cam-

pus took to the mike, includ-

ing but not limited to ASG,

MEChA, the Student Veterans

Union, and Honors Club. Eve-

ryone probably heard MEChA

shouting throughout the col-

lege to protest the cuts. After

the Mesa rally, there was a

larger rally at Balboa Park

with community college stu-

dents from all over San Diego.

On

March

4th, stu-

dents

and

teachers

all

across

Califor-

nia took

a stand

against

the

state‟s

budget

cuts.

Marching across streets and

rallying on campuses, they

wanted to make sure that their

voices were heard. These

budget cuts are examples of

what‟s wrong with education

in America.

The next day, many Mesa col-

lege professors also marched

from Bakersfield all the way

to Sacramento. Their plight

illustrated just how the cuts

affect everyone in education.

From the tenured professor to

the first grader who wants to

go to college, what does this

say about higher education?

The people in Sacramento

would rather keep their jobs

and livelihoods than fight for

ours. Time and time again the

point was made that we pay

more for prisons than for our

public education in California.

We know where our priorities

are; we need to work so that

Sacramento changes theirs.

-By Jay Aquino-

Don’t Cut California’s Future

Raphael Doelker, Chief Editor/ Director of Public Relations Email: r.doelker@gmail.com Jay Aquino, President Email: mesahonors@gmail.com

San diego mesa honors

club

Chief editor:

Raphael DOelker

Assistant editor/

Columnist:

April Decker

Writers:

Raphael Doelker

Kate Humphrey

Jay Aquino

Pictures provided by:

Alison Primoza

Michael taylor

Raphael Doelker

We are on

the web:

Sdmesa.edu/

honors

The door will open

for you, you just

have to knock

San Diego Mesa College 7250 Mesa College Drive San Diego, CA 92111-4998

Page 6 HON-OUR WAY

Raphael Doelker